Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have great sympathy for those young people. For the majority of them, it is an alien environment. They have been left high and dry without any support or hope that they may be able to pursue the education they wish to pursue in this country.

This task force has all the participants one would require on such a task force to be able to address this issue and it was established with lightening speed by the Minister. It will issue an interim report this Friday but, in the meantime, it is working hard to ensure the students have their visas extended so they are not forced to leave the country and retain the right to work to support themselves while they await an outcome. We have been trying to accommodate those students in other English language schools which operate to far higher standards. It is important to point out that the colleges which closed were private businesses and they were not backed by the State financially or in terms of other learner protection. The Deputy is quite right that we need to be very concerned about how this impacts on Ireland's image abroad as a destination for international education. Ireland earns just under €1 billion per annum from international education and it is one of our most significant exports.

We have been working very closely with the education in Ireland unit in Enterprise Ireland, the QQI and my officials to provide for this quality mark, which is provided for in the legislation underpinning QQI. With the establishment of the quality mark it will not be possible for any institution to market itself abroad under the education in Ireland brand without having that quality mark assigned to it. It will be a mark parents, students, academics and teachers internationally can trust. If an institution operates under that mark, it will be operating to an exceptionally high standard where one can trust the content and quality of the education being delivered.

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